Looking to learn CAD

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

For my 3D printer I learnt Fusion 360 by following these Youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvrHuaHhqHI&list=PLrZ2zKOtC_-AHebQU73jLvjvihmWQYVmC

They are good and very concise. No fluff. That means you have to concentrate and pause. Not everything will go smoothly but you will learn a lot.

It takes a few days to get through them.

I really love Fusion 360 considering it is free.

Edited By jaCK Hobson on 19/02/2021 18:19:15

[PackmuleParticipant @packmule]

Wow. Thanks a lot guys. Plenty of info there, time to make a list and have a look at the different programs. As always in you don't know ask, and you didn't disappoint.

Thanks everyone ,now to spend time looking and hopefully learning

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I'm sure you will find something that suits you Bob – there is no lack of choice.

Regards,

IanT

[Ronald MorrisonParticipant @ronaldmorrison29248]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 19/02/2021 10:30:33:

I did a thread called Making a start with FreeCAD a couple of years ago, so it should still all work! It's designed to take a beginner step by step through a number of common 3D processes with practical examples and pictures. As FreeCAD is free, there's no cost if you don't like it! FreeCAD parts can be 3D printed.

Though I find FreeCAD useful I'm not banging the drum for it in particular. Though it's a good introduction to 3D and might do all you need, it's also a stepping stone to one of the more advanced products like Alibre etc. Knowing FreeCAD made it a lot easier for me to understand and appreciate Fusion360.

Dave

FreeCAD also contains a decent "path workbench" that produces the toolpath for CNC. At first I found it as confusing as learning CAD drawing but with some practice it got a lot easier. Now I can go from a design, 3D print it if I wish, or just produce the gcode for a CNC mill.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

I was an everyday cad user back some 12 years or so ago. I had a phone call from an associate who taught Autocad at a college. He asked me how to break a circle at a particular spot using commands rather than the mouse. He had been teaching for a long time & had forgot how to do it. That is Autocad. So many commends that you end up forgetting some of them in a short time. I have recently started using it again in my retirement & yes it does take some remembering. Best of luck.

Steve.

[Model EnginerdParticipant @modelenginerd]

FreeCAD also contains a decent "path workbench" that produces the toolpath for CNC. At first I found it as confusing as learning CAD drawing but with some practice it got a lot easier. Now I can go from a design, 3D print it if I wish, or just produce the gcode for a CNC mill.

I was unaware of that. Sometimes I can pick up on new tools scrolling through suggestions.

I'm kind of on the other path. I picked up "Principles of Engineering Graphics" to learn how it was done the old school way. I have the big pile of Spitfire drawings and am always amazed at how quickly they got stuff done, even with the stack-up errors and such.

I found that after learning one software, the rest follow a similar path.

[Gerhard NovakParticipant @gerhardnovak66893]

I would like join the "free CAD hymne". I am using QCAD, for the simple reason that a guy who is doing custom laser cutting wanted this format. QCAD is mainly a 2D program, but 3D is possible. I think you need to have a good understanding of 2D before going into a 3rd dimension. The free version has of course some limits, one is for instance printing. It doesn't do a print over multiple pages. But you can print a part of your drawing. A feature which is also not working is the single line detection. If you draw exact (what you shoud do with a CAD software) you will not notice if you went twice over a part as long as you are using the same line width. This is not a problem if you just draw something, but it is a problem for laser cutting. As I said the software was free, but I purchased a book (QCAD – an introduction to computer- aided design by Andrew Mustun). The book is a must to get familiar with the software. It allows using the cursor interactiv but also relative or absolute coordinates and if you are really good you could work from the comand line only… See two examples: The railway station of Brackley – rear view. (You may say there is no railway in Brackley – right, but there was – the Great Central Main Line. The station is still there, just in front of the old Racing Point F1 team building. I built this station in 7mm scale and had all window frames laser cut.)

A second example is the machine I am currently working on (well, if I do not work for money or upgrade the garden to my wifes likings…).This will be very small, as I used a function to print all on one A4 page. But as said before, you can print whatever section you want in any scale you want. Have fun in learning CAD!

 

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:39:12

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:43:18

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:47:26

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